Well guys, this is new and really crazy......I mentioned this to Helen yesterday but today it is even stranger.

Two things happened yesterday ......when I went to lift Bunny on the stand I was worried that I might be too weak to lift her, 240 pounds. This was not the case, it was EASY...almost too easy, I obviously have done this many times and it is never ''easy'. But it was. Earlier I had picked up a 50 pound bag of dog food and thought it felt light. There is no doubt I am much stronger than before Hfest....and probably long before that.

Today I noticed my hands and fingers no longer ache...there is no pain at all and my fingers have not been this flexible in years. I have complete, ful motion in all joints! I can exert my full strength gripping something, with no discomfort at all. I had when younger a very strong grip....as in easily hurt your hand strong....Many a "big guy" has found this out when they were trying to be "cute" in a handshake. Right now my grip strength is crazy strong with zero pain. Until today and for years my hands hurt bad enough that I would not be able to punch someone without crippling myself. Not today, boys.

I have no idea what has changed or why.....I hope I am not going the way of a 2 stroke dirt bike, they always run best before the seize

Hell, at this point that makes as much sense as anything.....my Baker's Cysts on the back of my knees are also half the size they were and my knees feel normal....I am dumbfounded and have no explanation for any of it. I weighed 125 (normal is 135-140) the other day....132 right now. I have been eating fruit, yogurt, bare toast, box chicken noodle soup, Glucern, drinking water and Gatorade and little else, actually nothing I can think of....and I am HUNGRY all the time it seems, that junk does not have near enough calories for me!

Capt., and that too would make as much sense as anything I can think of!

I will say just sitting here "relaxing" is KILLING ME!!!!!!! I have to much to do and the weather is fantastic....but my buddy said "do nothing, relax, sit around, no riding" and so that is exactly what I have been doing.....did I mention it is KILLING ME to do this?

When I stopped drinking for two years nothing changed.....my hands still hurt, my foot hurt, limited movement in my finger joints.......NOTHING got "better"....I just lost weight until I hit 125 and started drinking again! This is CRAZY!

And here we go again.....as I wrote this I scratched my neck and realized I could not feel my lymph nodes! They have been visible for as long as I remember and I remember asking a nurse about them in '85 when I was in the hospital for the snake bite about them. She said they were probably "normal" and I'm just skinny...or something like that. Well, now my neck looks "normal" and I can barely feel them.

Sidney said "you are not a Time Lord dad, and besides you'd have to die to rejuvenate". As far as I know I did not die.....

Capt., I know you meant that sincerely and was not making a joke and with complete sincerity and I know you believe me, I was thinking the same thing a few minutes ago. And I thanked Him, regardless of outcome....... I really have no other explanation for this stuff.....sure my guts are still a little off but they should be for quite a while.

Did I mention just sitting on the couch sucks? Even when watching MotoGP.Ed

It's pretty hard to sit on the couch when life beckons. you have stuff to build, bikes to ride, a kid to raise. The list goes on. just please be careful. And eat what the good Dr recommends. Diet has so much to do with our general health.

If you keep feeling better, Donnie will only have to kick a pigeon, in Milwaukee.

I know that you know that I do work for 'the guy upstairs'. And during my work I have seen many miracles, from the wee small once to the big stuff, like complete healing from cancer - without any medical treatment or surgery.

Whatever you do, please try to stay healthy ..... at least until you get my speakers refinished .....

But, seriously, I am checking out a few different stains on the veneer samples you gave me and will let you know as soon as I figure out what floats my boat.

There is no hurry on this, though, because the plan is still to have Buzz bring the speakers with him when he makes a road trip to Caintuck.Not sure just when that will be, but I think we have a while before it happens.

Thanks guys, I'm feeling better each day. Today was a week since the 2nd episode. It's still a little scary since I did not go to the doctor or hospital. The bland diet and Prilosec seem to be working. If "it" happens again I will go to hospital. At this point my plan is to heal for a few weeks and if I still feel good I'll go for some blood work. If I do not continue to improve and get back to normal, I'll go sooner. Considering the amount of Ibuprofen and aspirin I took prior to HFest trying to get the inflammation out my leg, the stress, the alcohol, poor eating.....ulcer sounds just about right. I was taking 400mg Ibuprofen 3 times a day,,,,and I ran out of Zantac the last several days. That did not help either.

I've got stuff to do but the weather has been bad and I'd not have gotten a lot done even if I did feel good. I'm now waiting on my Doc. buddy to give me the ok to actually work. This time when he said "stay on the couch and do nothing" I listened! I hope it is soon......but it's supposed to rain tomorrow so maybe I'll go easy one more day.